Our DIY Naples Report - Capri

This is another in my series of DIY reports from our recent Italy/Greece cruise.

Last year on our Mediterranean Cruise, we visited Naples and rented a car for the day and visited Positano and Sorrento.

This year we decided to visit Capri. As a photography enthusiast, I was drawn to Capri for the prospect of getting some great photos and my GF was equally excited by the potential for great shopping. Capri is really an island extension of the Amalfi Coast so it shares a lot of the same characteristics… rugged coast line and cliffs, harrowing roads, turquoise water, and charming towns.

As usual, I found the CC forums a wealthy resource for planning the day: thanks to all who contributed. I also found this site to be an excellent resource: http://www.capri.com/en/i/the-island-in-a-day

Map of Capri

The first thing I did was start to plot points of interest on a map. As with my other DIY Reports, I’ll link to my Google Map so you can see what points we visited.

Getting To Capri

There are endless threads on getting to Capri, but even with that, the most often asked question is probably… where is the passenger ferry terminal to Capri (or Sorrento, etc.). Here’s a view of the harbor area from Google Maps that shows the main cruise terminal and the passenger ferry terminal which is the long narrow building that stretches along the water front just adjacent to the cruise terminal. BTW, the high speed passenger boats are often advertised as hydrofoils but they are just normal displacement hull vessels from what I saw. At any rate, they just back up to the pier and unload/load folks through gangways off the stern.

Map of Naples Harbour:

As you approach the ferry terminal, you will see this large board listing the various sailings coming up. Find one you want (probably the next one to Capri), note the company name, and then find their ticket booth on the right side of the building. (Here are some photos from another website the help explain what I’m talking about)…

There’s a ferry approximately every 30 minutes or so if I recall correctly, so you don’t really need to try and plan to get on a specific sailing, just show up when you’re ready to go and you probably won’t have to wait long.

This website I suggested above, also has the sailing times for the current week to give you an idea of the frequency of ferry service… http://www.capri.com/en/ferry-schedule

As you can see from the above site, tickets are around 18-20-Euro per person, each way. It’s not cheap, but it’s worth it. It takes about 50 minutes to cross.

We were off our ship by 8AM and caught an 8:30 ferry getting us to Capri around 9:30AM.

Arriving in Capri – Return Ferry Tickets

It seems to be common wisdom here that you should buy your return ferry ticket as soon as you arrive on Capri. I’ve marked the ferry ticket office in Marina Grande on the map which is just to your right as you get to the street after disembarking your ferry. I guess the thinking is that the lines for the ferry ticket booths can get rather long in the afternoon so this is probably sound advice. It may be much more important during peak season, but in early Oct. this wasn’t a concern that I could see. At any rate, it’s probably better to be safe than sorry, especially if you’re trying to time your return passage to get you back close to your back-on-board time and don’t have the luxury of just taking any given ferry at the time. We didn’t need to be back on board our ship until 6:30PM but purchased return tickets from Capri for around 4PM if I recall correctly.

Getting Around Capri

While there are some shops in Marina Grande, you are going to want to explore the island. You may want to take a boat tour, visit the town of Anacapri and take the chairlift, visit the town of Capri and explore the shops there, or even walk down the backside of the island on Via Krupp.

Boat tours can be arranged from the Marina, but we didn’t explore this option.

For transportation out of Marina Grande, you can take the Funicular up to Capri town, walk up to Capri town (uphill all the way), rent a scooter, or take the public bus. I considered renting a scooter and even located a place in Marina Grande that offered rentals, but ultimately decided it wasn’t really necessary and that was only confirmed after spending the day there. The public bus, at least in October, is the ideal way to get around. At busier times of the year, I could see how the bus would be undesirable so perhaps a scooter rental might make more sense then.

Here’s the scooter rental place if you’re interested:

http://www.capriscooter.com/en/index

For 1.5-Euro (I think) the bus is a great way to get around. The buses are small and crowded, even in October, but frequent and the rides are short (10-15 minutes max.).

The main bus stops at Marina Grande, Anacapri, and Capri town are all marked on my map and when you arrive at the bus stop you will see a set of railings to form a queue for your desired destination. Line up there and wait for the next bus which never seemed to be a long wait. You can pay on the bus or buy bus tickets next to the ferry ticket terminal.

Enjoy the insane ride up the hill to Anacapri. At one point, you can press your nose to the glass on the right side of the bus and not see any ground until hundreds of feet below. The bus drivers are truly amazing in their ability to pass each other on a road that you would swear is barely wide enough for a single lane, never mind two passing buses.

Anacapri

The bus will drop you in the main square (if you can call it that as it’s rather small). The shops extend off in both directions from the square on a diagonal pedestrian only street.

Chairlift up Monte Solaro

Just off the main square is the chairlift to the top of Monte Solaro, the highest point on the island. It cost 10-Euro per person and while it was interesting to do it once, I certainly wouldn’t repeat. As I found out as the day went on, there are better views and photographic opportunities than what you can see from the top of Monte Solaro. The morning I was there, there was a bit of marine mist in the air which hampered visibility in the morning and thus views of the rock formations from the mountain top. With good visibility and a good telephoto lens you could probably get some stunning photos, but that wasn’t the case the day I was there. If you’re looking for a good view of the sea stack rock formations (The Faraglioni), I actually recommend the view point at the Gardens of Augustus (marked on my map).

The chair lift ride is single seat, which makes for a nice peaceful relaxing ride, so it’s almost worth if for the tranquility of the ride more than the views at the top.

Here’s a picture of Anacapri from the chairlift…

Shopping in Anacapri

There are plentiful shops in Anacapri with a broad selection of Napoli and area souvenirs like pottery, lemoncello, jewelry, and more. In fact, if you’re shopping for souvenirs, Anacapri seems to be the place to do that as the shops in Capri Town are primarily luxury brand name stores.

Villa San Michele

Is an old villa turned into a museum at the end of Anacapri overlooking Marina Grande. It offers spectacular views (although similar views can be had without going into the Villa) and some amazing gardens.

Here’s a photo of the gardens…

And the view of Marina Grande from the end of the property which has a nice look-out…

That same view above can be had by simply walking past the Villa on the public pedestrian path to a view point just below the property… so don’t spend 6-Euro to go in the Villa just for that view.

Here’s what you see looking straight down over the cliff… (that's the end of the Amalfi coast in the distance)

Capri Town

We took the bus from Anacapri to Capri town and found a nice sidewalk café in the Piazzetta to have lunch. Here’s a view of the Piazzetta and beyond…

As I mentioned above, Capri town is full of luxury shops and some beautiful buildings, one of my favorite being the Relais La Palma Hotel…

I will be back to stay there one day!

We worked our way slowly south through town towards the Gardens of Augustus which offers some fantastic views of the sea stacks and Via Krupp…

The Faraglioni…

Via Krupp and beyond…

Returning to Marina Grande and Naples

After that, we debated taking the Funicular down to Marina Grande or just walking down the pedestrian path. We opted for the later as there was a bit of a wait for the Funicular and it turned out to be a nice choice as you get to see some of the beautiful homes along the way and it’s not really stressful at all (although it may be hard on those with arthritic knees as there are a LOT of stairs).

Since we already had our return tickets, we simply had to identify our ferry by company and time along the pier and board our boat for the return trip to Naples.

Back in Naples

We got back to Naples with an hour or two to spare, so we used that time to walk around Castle Nuovo...

And visit the Galleria di Umberto I which is a beautiful mall built around 1880 or so with vaulted glass domes and cielings...

That’s about it. There’s certainly lots to do and see in Capri and we would love to come back and spend some more time there… ideally spending a week next time. It’s a truly beautiful place.

Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to try and answer them.

Great write-up!

Great review and amazing photos! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for posting. Beautiful pictures!

thanks so much, wonderful post!

we plan on going to Capri next October and really appreciate your tips...we will put them to good use.:)

I found myself looking back on this post after trying to decide on what to do for our Naples stop.

Capri looks amazing. Since this is our first time in Naples, I think I kind of want to see a bit of Naples and a bit of Capri. We're in Naples from 7-7. What time did you start your adventure? What do you recommend seeing/doing in Naples? So far I've only been seeing Pompeii or Sorrento/Positano/Amalfi recommended tours. I don't know if we're interested in seeing Pompeii since our whole cruise is based on seeing ruins. Kind of might want a break from that and just take in other sites, ya know? We've heard of Capri, so we're kind of leaning towards that over the Sorrento/Positano/Amalfi tours. Any input would be helpful.

Thanks.

Capri looks amazing. Since this is our first time in Naples, I think I kind of want to see a bit of Naples and a bit of Capri. We're in Naples from 7-7. What time did you start your adventure? What do you recommend seeing/doing in Naples? So far I've only been seeing Pompeii or Sorrento/Positano/Amalfi recommended tours. I don't know if we're interested in seeing Pompeii since our whole cruise is based on seeing ruins. Kind of might want a break from that and just take in other sites, ya know? We've heard of Capri, so we're kind of leaning towards that over the Sorrento/Positano/Amalfi tours. Any input would be helpful.

One of the many great things about a port stop in Naples is that the cruise port is in the centro storico (historical center) of the city, so there's no commute back to the ship.

If it were me I'd head over to Capri first thing in the morning, then return to Naples in early-mid afternoon so you'll be close to the ship at the end of the day.

There's so much to choose from in Naples, it really depends on what interests you.

Probably the most well known and visited site in Naples is the national archeology museum (http://cir.campania.beniculturali.it/museoarcheologico****onale?set_language=en), but if you are "ruined-out" by this point in your trip it might not be the best choice for you.

There are wonderful churches and fabulous art in Naples, including the Certosa di San Martino on the top of the Vomero hill, overlooking the port. The church at this former monastery is amazing and the art collection in the museum includes some stunning precepi, the nativity scenes that Naples is famous for (http://cir.campania.beniculturali.it/museosanmartino?set_language=en).

Another show-stopper in Naples are the sculptures, especially the Veiled Christ, at the Museo Cappella San Severo (http://www.museosansevero.it/index_ing.html).

There is also the underground, which I found fascinating (http://www.napolisotterranea.org/naples-underground/?lang=en). There is one section that is difficult for those who suffer from claustrophobia, but you can easily sit out that portion of the tour. For those who can manage it, however, the payoff is well worth it. In this part of the tour you are given candles to carry, as there is no lighting, and you squeeze through a narrow passageway. It's easy to imagine, while doing this, what it must have been like for the citizens of Naples during WWII, when the space was used for shelter during bombing raids.

Within steps of the cruise port you can tour the opera house, Teatro San Carlo, one of the best in Italy (http://www.teatrosancarlo.it/).

Next to the opera house is the Royal Palace, where you can tour the royal apartments.

Across the street from the palace and the opera house is the Galleria, a 19th century glass-roofed shopping arcade where you can taste a sfogliatella at Mary's.

Right across the street from the cruise port is Castel Nuovo, which houses the city museum of Naples (http://www.incampania.com/en/beniculturali.cfm?s=5&Menu_ID=211&Sub_ID=213&Info_ID=4294).

If you're looking for a few moments of peace and quiet in the middle of the city, you can't beat the cloisters at Santa Chiara (http://www.santachiara.info/ver_en/index.htm). This is a "two birds with one stone" site, as there is also a small archeology museum and excavations you can visit.

The city actually has a decent tourism section of its website, in English, which you can find here: http://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/EN/IDPagina/5802

Fantastic Review/Trip Report.

Keith

I hope Virtual Rain won't mind if I tack my own DIY Capri report on to this one (although I hesitate to post my photos in close proximity.....:o). This thread seems to be a good resource for folks planning a day in Capri, so to me it makes sense to add other Capri options here as well.

My visit to Capri was in late October, a beautiful day. Our ship was in port until 11:00 pm that night, so there was no need to rush, and Capri at this time of year was relatively uncrowded.

Our ship was very close to Molo Beverello. We'd looked up the times of the hydrofoils/ferries in advance, and knew when we wanted to leave. Luckily, our ship was in the closest possible spot, so it was a walk of only a few minutes to reach the ticket counters and purchase our ticket (€20,20 per person). After a 40-minute ride, we arrived at Marina Grande.

The small boats to take you to the Blue Grotto are shown in front, and the ferries behind.

We chose to take the funicular up to Capri Town. You purchase the tickets for this around the corner from the actual boarding spot, so look around and don't just get in the line. It only takes a few minutes to ascend to Capri Town.

Once we arrived there, we took a brief look around, including stopping into the Church of St. Stefano to see the beautiful marble floor pilfered from the Roman villa (Villa Jovis) that we were heading to next:

The walk to Villa Jovis is about 40-45 minutes from Capri Town, mostly uphill as you are headed to the peak where the villa was perched to capture spectacular views. Other than being uphill, the road is pretty easy and is signposted every so often so you don't lose your way. While we were enroute, we passed a wedding party headed down to Capri Town.

After about a half an hour, we caught our first glimpse of the ruins of Villa Jovis, thought to be the grandest of 12 villas built by the Emperior Tiberius on Capri at the top of Monte Tiberio.

Once we arrived at the entrance to the Villa, we paid for our tickets and stopped to admire the view down, near the so-called Leap of Tiberius, where the Emperor is said to have made unlucky criminals or those who offended him leap to their deaths on the rocks below. Still, a nice view.

The ruins at Villa Jovis were more extensive than I had thought, based on my reading. Still, don't go with expectations of anything on the level of Pompeii or Herculaneum. These ruins have been exposed to the elements for nearly 2,000 years and have been raided for any valuable materials by other builders.

You can enter and walk around most of the ruins, including a Roman baths complex (closed when we were there). Other areas include servants' quarters, public rooms, and a portico built along the edge of the cliff with beautiful views.

Servants quarters and kitchens:

Supporting structures for public rooms:

One of the huge vaults (more than 20 feet high) that served a dual purpose of supporting the higher levels of the villa and providing a niche along the seaside ambulatio, or walkway, where people could sit and look out at the views. The Villa itself is thought to have have been anywhere from 3 to 5 storeys high.

View from the end of the walkway:

At the heart of Villa Jovis are a series of huge cisterns, used to collect all the water needed to support the needs of the imperial villa. There is no fresh water on Capri.

Remains of one of the large, vaulted cisterns which would have been completely covered:

After enjoying an impromptu picnic lunch at the Villa, we retraced our steps down to Capri Town for the second half of our day.

(more to come)

At Capri Town, we caught the bus to Anacapri (as described by Virtual Rain, above). It's definitely an adventure, just don't think about how close the bus is to the sheer drop....

In Anacapri, we stopped briefly at an eclectic little museum called the Casa Rossa (Red House) in the center of town. This Pompeiian-red house was once owned by an ex-Confederate lieutenant colonel, who restored and furnished it with odd bits of of statuary and decoration. It's an interesting 20-minute stop. The "must see" items here are three sea-eaten statues, recovered from the Blue Grotto (which the owner of Casa Rossa actually owned in the late 1800s!). They represent Neptune and his son Triton, and may be Greek originals:

From Anacapri, we thought we would walk to a second Roman villa, Villa Damecuta. However, it turned out to be a much longer walk than we'd anticipated, so we finally hopped a bus (paid the driver) for a ride that got us most of the way. We still had a lovely bit of walk to reach the ruins.

Although "officially" closed, we'd been assured we could still see the ruins, and this proved to be true. Not as extensive as those of Villa Jovis, they were still beautiful in the late afternoon sun:

Except for a stray dog and an amorous couple, we had the place to ourselves. After looking around, we headed back to Marina Grande via two buses (one to Anacapri, then from Anacapri to Marina Grande, bypassing Capri Town). Our timing was great, and we purchased a ticket for a hydrofoil that was just about to leave, somewhere around 6pm.

A final photo of Marina Grande at dusk, with the moon already up:

All in all, an excellent day. :)

Did you take the pics in post number three? They are beautiful!!! Can you tell me which camera you used?

I found myself looking back on this post after trying to decide on what to do for our Naples stop.

 

Capri looks amazing. Since this is our first time in Naples, I think I kind of want to see a bit of Naples and a bit of Capri. We're in Naples from 7-7. What time did you start your adventure? What do you recommend seeing/doing in Naples? So far I've only been seeing Pompeii or Sorrento/Positano/Amalfi recommended tours. I don't know if we're interested in seeing Pompeii since our whole cruise is based on seeing ruins. Kind of might want a break from that and just take in other sites, ya know? We've heard of Capri, so we're kind of leaning towards that over the Sorrento/Positano/Amalfi tours. Any input would be helpful.

 

Thanks.

I think the Amalfi coast is equally as beautiful and interesting as Capri. You really can't go wrong with either and if you're an avid cruiser, you're bound to find yourself in Naples again some day so you will have the opportunity to see more.

I hope Virtual Rain won't mind if I tack my own DIY Capri report on to this one (although I hesitate to post my photos in close proximity.....:o). This thread seems to be a good resource for folks planning a day in Capri, so to me it makes sense to add other Capri options here as well.

I dont mind at all... Great idea!

Did you take the pics in post number three? They are beautiful!!! Can you tell me which camera you used?

Yes, I wrote somewhat of an essay on this here (since there's more to it than just equipment as you can probably imagine)...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=35864556&postcount=12

One of the many great things about a port stop in Naples is that the cruise port is in the centro storico (historical center) of the city, so there's no commute back to the ship.

 

If it were me I'd head over to Capri first thing in the morning, then return to Naples in early-mid afternoon so you'll be close to the ship at the end of the day.

 

There's so much to choose from in Naples, it really depends on what interests you.

 

Probably the most well known and visited site in Naples is the national archeology museum (http://cir.campania.beniculturali.it/museoarcheologico****onale?set_language=en), but if you are "ruined-out" by this point in your trip it might not be the best choice for you.

 

There are wonderful churches and fabulous art in Naples, including the Certosa di San Martino on the top of the Vomero hill, overlooking the port. The church at this former monastery is amazing and the art collection in the museum includes some stunning precepi, the nativity scenes that Naples is famous for (http://cir.campania.beniculturali.it/museosanmartino?set_language=en).

 

Another show-stopper in Naples are the sculptures, especially the Veiled Christ, at the Museo Cappella San Severo (http://www.museosansevero.it/index_ing.html).

 

There is also the underground, which I found fascinating (http://www.napolisotterranea.org/naples-underground/?lang=en). There is one section that is difficult for those who suffer from claustrophobia, but you can easily sit out that portion of the tour. For those who can manage it, however, the payoff is well worth it. In this part of the tour you are given candles to carry, as there is no lighting, and you squeeze through a narrow passageway. It's easy to imagine, while doing this, what it must have been like for the citizens of Naples during WWII, when the space was used for shelter during bombing raids.

 

Within steps of the cruise port you can tour the opera house, Teatro San Carlo, one of the best in Italy (http://www.teatrosancarlo.it/).

 

Next to the opera house is the Royal Palace, where you can tour the royal apartments.

 

Across the street from the palace and the opera house is the Galleria, a 19th century glass-roofed shopping arcade where you can taste a sfogliatella at Mary's.

 

Right across the street from the cruise port is Castel Nuovo, which houses the city museum of Naples (http://www.incampania.com/en/beniculturali.cfm?s=5&Menu_ID=211&Sub_ID=213&Info_ID=4294).

 

If you're looking for a few moments of peace and quiet in the middle of the city, you can't beat the cloisters at Santa Chiara (http://www.santachiara.info/ver_en/index.htm). This is a "two birds with one stone" site, as there is also a small archeology museum and excavations you can visit.

 

The city actually has a decent tourism section of its website, in English, which you can find here: http://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/EN/IDPagina/5802

THANK YOU!!! Your recommendations are very much appreciated!

Excellent reports and photos, VirtualRain and Cruisemom42.

Another Thank You!!! The photos and detailed information have helped significantly in our Naples Port planning. :)

Did you go to the Blue Grotto? For planning purposes, how long do you think we would need in Capri?

Did you go to the Blue Grotto? For planning purposes, how long do you think we would need in Capri?

The amount of time you'll need depends on what you'd like to see/do there. You can easily spend the entire day.

The trip to the Blue Grotto, round trip from Marina Grande, takes about an hour.

Wow! Beautiful pictures & such a great post! We were wanting to head over to De Michele in Naples for an early lunch (1030-11am) and then wanted to head over to Capri for the Blue Grotto, since we are there from 7am-7pm do you think we'd be able to make it to the Pizzaria, then Capri, do the Blue Grotto & make it back to the ship with enough time?

Wow! Beautiful pictures & such a great post! We were wanting to head over to De Michele in Naples for an early lunch (1030-11am) and then wanted to head over to Capri for the Blue Grotto, since we are there from 7am-7pm do you think we'd be able to make it to the Pizzaria, then Capri, do the Blue Grotto & make it back to the ship with enough time?

Da Michele will not be serving that early, so you might as well go right to Capri in the morning and plan to have your pizza when you come back in the afternoon.

Great post and valuable information - will be using next month. Thanks!

Cruisemom and Virtual Rain. Wish I had had this info last October when our ship stopped in Naples instead of the intended Sorrento. Since I was unprepared for Naples, we stayed on the ship. You made it see so easy to see Capri. Guess I was so bummed out about not stopping in Sorrento, that I couldn't get out of my rut!

Thanks for all the useful information posted here and the pictures are fantastic - I can't wait!!!

Question: We have the opportunity for a personal guide for 10 people costing $38 USD per person. Could anyone tell me if they feel this is money well spent or if DIY is just as beneficial? I'm torn as with booking this guide, he would be with us the whole time, giving instruction on what it is we are looking at, making sure we got to all the 'must see' places and from reading the previous posts, I'm thinking there's a lot of history that if you didn't do your research, you would miss. We would still be responsible for our hydrofoil costs as well as any extras that we chose to do like the funicular. The guide would arrange for booking the times as well as a mini-bus to drive us around on the island.

I guess what I'm asking is 'is it worth the extra $38 per person or would you just go with out the convenience of the guide and pre-booked transfers and wonder on your own?'

Any information would be helpful. Thanks!!!